A conventional miter gauge typically used in conjunction with any of a variety of pieces of power equipment, like a miter saw, sander or a band saw, is shown in FIG. 1. The conventional miter gauge includes a gauge body 1a and a lead arm 2a pivotally attached thereto through bolt 12a. The gauge body la has a semicircular circular plate 11a having a calibration of degrees thereon for accurately positioning the relative angular relation of the gauge body with respect to the lead arm.
A guiding slot is typically provided on the top surface of a work table typically supplied with each of the different types of power equipment noted above. The lead arm 2a of a conventional miter gauge is essentially a bar having a constant, fixed width approximately equal to that of the guiding slot so that the whole miter gauge can be fitted to the work table of the equipment by insertion of the lead arm into the guiding slot.
Manufacturers of such power equipment usually sell their products together with a miter gauge having a lead arm of constant, fixed width generally nearly equal to that of the guiding slot provided on the work table of the equipment. However, miter gauges from different manufacturers typically cannot fit the equipment of other manufacturers because the width of the guiding slots typically differ from manufacturer to manufacturer as do the widths of the lead arms of the miter gauges. In addition, even gauges supplied by manufacturers with their own equipment are often loose and poorly fitted to the equipment. This is a major disadvantage of the conventional miter gauge.